5 From Area Arrested In Meth Ring

April 08, 1993|by KAREN YURCONIC, The Morning Call

Five Lehigh Valley area residents and a Philadelphia man were arrested Tuesday morning and are being held on charges they manufactured or distributed more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine from the spring of 1989 through the summer of 1990.

The drug, a super strong stimulant that is injected, smoked and sometimes put in a beverage and drunk, was cooked in a basement laboratory in a rented New Tripoli area farmhouse, at least four locations in Ross Township, Monroe County, and at a garage and a home in Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. Miller, the prosecutor in the case, said.

At the top of the nine-count indictment list is Dennis James McIntyre, 45, of 1751 Welsh Road, Philadelphia, described by Miller as the recruiter of the group.

"He (McIntyre) essentially put together the members of the conspiracy," Miller said. "Without him, many of them would not have met each other."

Others named in the indictment are: Loretta Fish, 36, of Kunkletown R.7; James Counterman, 30, of 18 Elm St., East Stroudsburg; Joseph Brown, who will be 39 tomorrow, of 318 Crane St., Catasauqua; Michael Powers, 38, of Lynn Township (New Tripoli R.3); and Michael Allan Kelly, 38, of 6 Day St., East Stroudsburg.

"McIntyre alone was responsible for manufacturing at least 65 pounds of pure methamphetamine. The others were directly involved in manufacturing at least 48 pounds, except for Counterman, who was a distributor," Miller said.

She said some methamphetamine was made in the basement of a farmhouse that Powers rented along Lockland Road in Lynn Township. Some was made in three mobile homes in Chicola Lakes, an area of Ross Township where a new mobile home park was developed after the meth labs shut down, Miller said.

"In this conspiracy, the pure methamphetamine was being sold wholesale for $9,000 to $10,000 per pound," Miller said. "At the retail level, what they call cut methamphetamine --diluted for street distribution -- can often sell for $10,500 or $11,000 per pound," she said.

Miller said although the indictment focuses on manufacturing and distribution that took place from the spring of 1989 through the summer of 1990, the investigation really began in the summer of 1990.

"Since then, a number of witnesses came forward. They had to be interviewed and then information verified and corroborated." Other documentary evidence, such as telephone toll records to verify what the witnesses were saying, had to be obtained, Miller said.

"We obtained search warrants for several locations," Miller said, and at 6 a.m. Tuesday one warrant was served at the Lynn Township farmhouse.

"Evidence was found at all the locations where we had been told methamphetamine labs existed," Miller said. "The witnesses who were involved did not provide this information until the methamphetamine labs ceased operation," she said.

McIntyre is named in all nine counts of the indictment.

Fish, Brown, Powers and Kelly are named in two counts that charge them with manufacturing, distributing or helping to manufacture or distribute pure methamphetamine.

Counterman, who was arrested in December in a roundup of alleged drug dealers who reportedly distributed hundreds of pounds of marijuana primarily in the Poconos, is named in one count of the methamphetamine indictment.

Kelly also previously was arrested on drug charges, Miller said. According to Morning Call files, he was charged with selling an ounce of methamphetamine for $1,100 to an undercover narcotics agent in February 1991.

Detention hearings to determine whether the court is willing to set bail on the defendants will be held Friday in Philadelphia and Allentown, Miller said.

The investigation is being conducted by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. attorney general's office, both out of Philadelphia.

Federal agents were assisted by the Bureau of Narcotic Investigations and Bureau of Criminal Investigations, both with the state attorney general's office; state police at Swiftwater and Fogelsville; and the Philadelphia and Catasauqua police departments, according to Mary Vaira, DEA spokeswoman.